Monday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
(I Thessalonians 1:1-5.8b-10; Matthew 23:13-22)
In today’s gospel Jesus launches a diatribe against the
Pharisees. He accuses them, above all, of
being hypocritical -- that is, of saying one thing and doing another. But one
should not think that all Pharisees were like this. In truth, Jesus had friends who were Pharisees
and the Pharisaic movement saved Judaism from extinction after Rome destroyed
Jerusalem. Nevertheless, because of the impact
of the gospels on Western civilization, the two terms “Pharisees” and
“hypocrites” have become virtually synonymous.
Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with seven beatitudes
designating those who are welcome in the Kingdom of God. Here he begins his final apocalyptic sermon
with seven “woes” indicating those who will be excluded from Paradise. We hear three of the woes today, two
tomorrow, and two on Wednesday at Mass.
Jesus likely intended his diatribe against Judaism – a
reformist criticism from a faithful Jew.
However, in Matthew’s gospel it became associated with the scribes and
Pharisees because of their reaction against Christians at the time of Matthew’s
writing after Jerusalem’s destruction.
The denunciation should also be seen as a warning to Church leaders. Religious people like us run the danger of
using our positive status to exploit others.
True followers of Jesus will realize that transparency and humility are
hallmarks of Christian practice.
